Congress won’t authorize, but continues war on Libya

By
Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Published Jul 4, 2011 10:01 PM

As the U.S./NATO war against the North African state of Libya entered its
fourth month, the House of Representatives voted on June 24 to withhold
authorization for the bombing campaign. In a resolution to support the war,
members of Congress turned down the Obama administration’s military
strategy by a vote of 295 against and 123 in favor.

This vote reflected the broad opposition to the war inside the United States
and internationally as well as the failure of NATO to gain a quick victory.
Members of both political parties inside the government opposed the vote to
authorize the war, with 70 Democrats rejecting the administration’s
argument that the War Powers Act of 1973 does not apply to current operations
in Libya. This act, passed during the Vietnam War, supposedly limits the powers
of the executive branch of the U.S. government during wartime.

Despite the failure of the vote to authorize the war against Libya, the House
rejected a resolution to withhold funds geared toward continuing the U.S./NATO
war that began on March 19, after the Western-backed rebels faced imminent
defeat by the Libyan government.

According to the New York Times, “The second measure rejected by the
House would have essentially prohibited money for direct combat activity,
financing only support operations like search and rescue, aerial refueling,
operational planning, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Only
180 House members supported the measure, while 238, including 89 Republicans,
voted against it.” (June 24)

At the same time, other members of the House and Senate have supported the
administration’s policy of war against Libya. Sens. John McCain and John
Kerry have drafted a resolution defending the bombing and regime-change
strategy against the oil-producing North African state.

NATO’s war strategy

Even though it was made to appear that the second resolution would have
withdrawn support for the Libya war, the fact that language in the resolution
still provided for the continued military involvement — including
refueling, operational planning and intelligence — exposes that neither
political party supports a just settlement to the conflict in Libya. The
arguments have been exclusively centered on procedural issues over who can
legally declare war, the administration or Congress — not on unprovoked
attacks against a sovereign state and the war’s impact on the civilian
population of Libya, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced
and thousands killed.

The only response from the White House was to reiterate that the war against
Libya does not constitute “hostilities.” Jay Carney, the Obama
administration’s spokesperson, said, “We are disappointed by that
vote. We think now is not the time to send the kind of mixed message that it
sends when we are working with our allies to achieve the goals that we believe
are widely shared in Congress.” (New York Times, June 24)

Carney said that the administration is concerned about imposing a no-fly zone
as authorized by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973. Yet the war has gone
far beyond this pseudo-legal rationale for the military onslaught against
Libya. U.S./NATO operations have resulted in the imposition of a naval
blockade; the freezing of governmental assets of over $50 billion; the
dispatching of Central Intelligence Agency operatives; the bombing of schools,
houses and government buildings; and targeted assassinations against Muammar
Gaddafi, his family and associates in ongoing efforts to topple the state and
institute a puppet regime.

In fact, NATO Joint Operations Commander and U.S. Admiral Samuel Locklear
admitted in a briefing to a Congressperson recently that the military operation
against Libya is committed to assassinating leader Muammar Gaddafi. The
Atlantic reported that “Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican and member of the
House Armed Services Committee, revealed the conversation to reporter Josh
Rogin, confirming what many observers had long suspected about the U.S. and
European air strikes. ... After all, NATO’s bombs have fallen on, among
others, the Bab al-Azizia military compound in Tripoli, which members of the
Gaddafi family sometimes used as a home.” (June 27)

The author, Max Fisher, continues by asking the question of whether these
targeted assassination attempts are escalating the war in Libya or bringing it
to a close.

Although NATO airstrikes continue to result in deaths and casualties, the
Western-backed Transitional National Council has accused the imperialist states
now bombing the country of not doing enough to remove the Libyan government.
The rebels fighting on behalf of the TNC continue to be trapped in the port
city of Misrata in the West and are being contained in sections of the Nafusa
Mountains on the border with Tunisia.

Outside the rebel-held city of Benghazi, TNC forces have been met with
determined resistance from the Libyan army. Even according to CBS News,
“The rebels are still stalled to the east in Misrata, complaining NATO
doesn’t coordinate air strikes to provide adequate air cover so they can
punch through Gaddafi’s forces and move towards Tripoli.” (June
27)

U.S. militarists urge greater involvement

U.S. militarists are demanding greater involvement by the Pentagon with the
deployment of more fighter aircraft and ground troops. Former Assistant
Secretary of State Jamie Rubin stated: “Once we’ve decided to use
air power alone, rather than ground troops — and that’s a perfectly
logical decision by the president — we have to be patient. Air power
doesn’t work like ground troops the way we, say in the first Gulf War,
just took over the Iraqi forces and threw them out of Kuwait in a few
days.” (CBS News, June 27)

Rubin continued, “But if you want to succeed here, having started this, I
think there is a way for the United States to get involved from the front,
rather than just supporting the British and the French, and that means more
U.S. aircraft, more U.S. missiles and directing the fire much more
carefully.”

On June 27 the judges from the International Criminal Court in The Hague,
Netherlands, announced warrants for the arrest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
and other top government officials. Several weeks ago the ICC chief prosecutor
had announced that an investigation was underway to indict the leadership of
the country.

A statement read out by presiding ICC judge Sanji Monageng said there were
“reasonable grounds to believe” that three leaders — Muammar
Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, his son, and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi
— were “criminally responsible” for killing civilians inside
the country. Nonetheless, there was no mention of the nature of the crimes
committed by the U.S. and NATO forces inside Libya.

This politically motivated provocation by the ICC is designed to support the
imperialist war against Libya aimed at the destabilization of the entire North
African region through the assassination of the national leadership of Libya in
order to expropriate its resources and install a client regime that will
totally serve the interests of Western capitalism. The fact the ICC has never
addressed the war crimes committed by the U.S./NATO forces in Afghanistan and
Pakistan or the U.S./British atrocities in Iraq, let alone the plight of the
Palestinians, illustrates clearly that it is a tool of the imperialist
states.

Build opposition to war on Libya

There is widespread opposition to the U.S. military involvement in Libya, as
well as the other wars taking place in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. A new
Gallup poll indicated that 39 percent of the U.S. population supports the
bombing. (USA Today, June 24)

Figures released by the U.S. government said that over $700 million has already
been spent on the Libyan operation. By September, the cost will be above $1
billion.

The U.S. economy is feeling the impact of the failure of capitalist-driven
policies that finance wars of occupation, military bases in many countries
around the world, the bailout of the banks, and the rising rates of
unemployment, homelessness and poverty.

Community rallies against the war have been held in Detroit, Los Angeles and
New York. A national tour features former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney,
Nation of Islam Minister Akbar Muhammad, December 12 Movement spokesperson
Viola Plummer, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and Answer leader
Brian Becker.

On June 27 a demonstration in New York organized by the United National
Anti-War Committee was held against the war with the slogan: “No to
trillions for war and destruction of jobs and services!”

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